


Damn, Yosuke's Dumb As Hell Lmao

by Alionos



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, protagonist referred to as souji, was very close to writing chie beating yosukes ass into the ground in a junes food court
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 03:10:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16694320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alionos/pseuds/Alionos
Summary: basically, yosuke's got issues, a lot, and a lesbian has to knock sense into him.





	Damn, Yosuke's Dumb As Hell Lmao

Yosuke was never really one to think. Which never really bothered him, except for when he had to. When they were last in the TV world, and a shadow got the better of Yosuke and knocked him down, Souji’s grip on his hand to help him lingered a bit longer than it probably needed to. And this got him thinking, despite how much he generally despised it. When he has a day where he doesn’t really have anything set before him, why is his first instinct to text Souji and ask him to hang out? The answer to him should seem obvious. Because they’re best friends, partners.

Partners. 

When he calls him his partner, there’s always a weird risk he can’t quite justify feeling. A weird sort of anxiety he feels in his gut, and he always gets a little antsy when he does. When he says it, he can’t decide on whether or not to make direct eye contact to figure out his reaction behind his stone expression, or to look away in embarrassment. But why? It’s really no different from saying friend, really. Right?

Instead of thinking for himself, he felt maybe it was time to outsource some brain power from someone with a few more cells between their ears. He texted Chie, who, admittedly, not many more cells there, but still more than him. 

Y: chie are you busy today.

C: im going on a date with yukiko later but im free for the next few hours whats up

Y: ok good. Meat me at junes i’ll buy you steak

Y: meet*

C: lmao meat you know? Like dick

Y: hilarious. Are you coming or not

C: i’ll be there god this better be good

He regretted this literally immediately, and as evidence his stomach began to protest. Not in the oh-my-god-I-have-to-shit way, but more in the about-to-perform-in-a-talent-show kind of protest. He made the familiar trek from home to Junes food court, where Chie was already waiting, chewing on steak.

“Jeez, you couldn’t wait for me to even get here?” Yosuke sighed as he pulled the chair out opposite her and took it.

“I was actually already here eating. So you’re gonna pay for my seconds.” She announced triumphantly, and he felt his wallet getting lighter by the second.  
He audibly groaned a bit louder than he needed to, and resigned to lean forward with his elbows on the tables. “Chie. I need your advice. Or help. Same thing. Whatever.”

He heard her almost obnoxious chewing come to a sudden halt as she looked at him with wide eyes. “With… girls?” She said through a full mouth and with a blink, and began chewing again.

“No. Actually um.” He trailed off tentatively as he shrunk even smaller in his seat. It was fairly early before lunch time, so there really wasn’t anyone around, but it was like he didn’t even want Chie to see him. “You’re gay, right?”

She almost choked on her steak. Actually, she did, and she dealt a swift punch to her sternum and a few moments of recovery she swallowed the meat properly and took a deep breath. “You are a dumbass. Me and Yukiko have like kissed in front of you.” 

He crossed his arms in protest. “I dunno! You guys could’ve been like gal pals! Whatever!” He harumphed and pushed back his chair a bit.

“Gal pals. Right. Because friends, you know, hold hands and kiss and go on dates!” She rolled her eyes, and earned a gentle kick under the table from Yosuke in response. She elected to neglect it for the sake of the conversation which she was admittedly getting more curious about. “Why’s that matter, anyway?”

“Okay… do you think Souji is uhm… gay?” He didn’t really know how to navigate his feelings here. 

“How should I know? Wouldn’t this be a question for like, Kanji? And why do you care?” She took another generous bite of the steak, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Yosuke Hanamura. Is this your way of-”

“Don’t get any weird ideas, okay?! I just noticed that he was acting all weird around me and… I dunno! I was just curious, is all! Okay, Chie!?” He blurted out all at once and with a burn on his cheeks and ears, cutting her off all the while.

Her chewing slowed. “Okay, okay! Jeez.” She sighed, rolled her eyes again, and set down her chopsticks. “Listen. If you want to find out if he’s into dudes, the best way is to ask him. Straight up. Not hard. It’s how I figured out Yukiko liked girls. 

“No, I can’t ask him!” He shoved his face into his palms and groaned.

“Why not?” She shot back at him.

“Because, what if he thinks I’m hitting on him?” He uncovered his face and shot his hands out to emphasize his point.

She leaned forward really close. “Listen Hanamura. There’s only two ways that this could go. If he’s straight, I don’t think Souji is the kind of guy to care if you ask. Scratch that, even if he was gay, I don’t think he’d care.” She offered, taking a sip of her soda she’d been ignoring for her food.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” He scratched his face as he milled over his thoughts.

“Why do you wanna know anyway? I don’t think it’s really your business if he’s gay or not. Think of his feelings, dude. If he’s gay and into you, asking him would just get his hopes up, right?” She pointed out, and Yosuke’s mouth got dry.

“You think he’s into me?” He tried to hide his curiosity with a tone of disgust, but failed miserably.

“I said if.” She pointed out, but looked at him seriously. “Listen, Yosuke. It’s obvious to even me you’re feeling something for him, right? You’re at least curious about him. If you are, that’s fine. Your secret is safe with me.” She wanted to make a remark about how it would be safer with her than her Trial of the Dragon DVD was with him, but she didn’t want to kick him when he was down.

“No, of course I don’t like him! I’m not gay, okay?!” He said with a bit of venom, and she backed off.

“Whatever dude. Don’t get you panties in a twist. My advice ends though. Just ask him. Worst he can say is no, right?” She shrugged, and picked at the remainder of the steak she left before. 

He didn’t like what she implied by saying that, but he didn’t want to have this conversation anymore. “Yeah… yeah.” He sighed.

“I’m all out of meat and advice, so it’s payment time.” She held out her hand expectantly, and Yosuke begrudgingly slipped her a few bills from his wallet. She triumphantly tore it from him and he felt his heart go with it as she stood, pushing the metal chair back with an annoying screech. Without another word exchanged between them, she sauntered back happily with her newly found funds.

Yosuke pretty much gained nothing from that exchange. In fact, he lost a lot. Nothing but a lighter wallet and a heavier heart. He still had no idea what to think about the whole situation with Souji. Her words echoed through his head, about how he obviously had feelings for Souji. Did he really? And was it truly obvious? His stomach tightened into a knot, and he barely noticed when Chie sat back down across from him.

“You’re still here?” She didn’t really mean it with spite, but it was hard for him to tell when she wasted no time stuffing her face.

“What do I do, Chie?” He answered her question with one of his own, catching her off guard. He had a heavy tone of resignation. “I don’t know what to do with this feeling in my stomach I’ve had since I he pulled me out of that damn trash can... “ He sat up suddenly, slamming a fist on the table and grunting in anger. “Damnit… this is bullshit!” His outburst made Chie jump a bit, and cease her meal.

“Dude, calm down.” She hissed at him, honestly getting tired of him. The steak she dined on seemed kind of less worth it. She sighed, and once again put down her eating utensils. “Okay, take a deep breath. You’re not allowed to snap at me like you did before I left, okay? Just answer some questions.”

He felt a twinge of fear at her tone, he knew better than to piss her off and he went and did it anyway. “...Alright. I’m sorry.” He relaxed in his seat, fear turning to shame.

“Think about how you feel when you talk to him. When you brush up to him. I don’t want you to describe it to me, just think about it, okay?” He nodded in compliance, then examined how he felt. It was a mix of anxiety, confusion, but excitement. Like taking a risk. “Now, think about how you felt with Saki. During the good times.” She continued on after a moment.

Yosuke was a bit embittered, but didn’t express it. As he thought back, he mostly felt just the excitement. The same sort of excitement he felt with Souji. Connecting the pieces like that in his head made him bite his cheek. “I… see a similarity, a bit. But thinking about him feels kind of wrong.”

Chie looked at him matter-of-factly. “It’s because he’s a dude.” She said in a knowing tone. “Think about it. Uh, I dunno, try to imagine if he was a girl. Do you think you would have those same wrongness feelings?” 

Yosuke imagined a Souji with long, flowing silver hair and luscious lips. And then he thought of kissing those lips. “Um, no.” He said with a hint of embarrassment when he forced the thoughts out of his mind for the sake of the conversation.

“See? We’ve established you have these feelings for him.” She concluded by chomping on steak. Yosuke thought about it intently. 

“I guess I do.” He admitted quietly. It felt freeing in a way, but he still felt sick. “What do I do?”

“Tell him. Invite him to meet up and make a move.” She stated, like it was just that easy. “But it is that easy.” She shot back, and he realized he said his thoughts aloud. “Ugh, hold on.” She got out her phone and started tapping away.

“What are you doing?” He looked at her worriedly, but he was ignored.

C: souji wanna hang out at your place tonight with me, yukiko and yosuke?

Souji messaged back really fast as usual.

S: Sure! What time should I expect you guys?

Chie looked up at Yosuke. “You busy tonight at eight?” She said quickly.

“Uh, no?” He said, before realizing what she was doing. “Chie, wait, what are you doing?!”

“Shush, give me a sec, okay?” She grunted at him.

C: hows eight?  
S: I’ll be waiting!

C: great! see you then

She slammed the flip phone shut triumphantly.

“We’re going on a group date at his place. Yukiko and I will come so you won’t be alone until you want us to be.” She winked at him and he shoved his face into his palms with a groan of agony.

It didn’t sound too bad as long as the two girls would be there for moral support. Right?

 

At eight, Yosuke showed up at the Dojima Doorstep wearing a light coat and jeans as a chill was starting to form in the air. The two girls weren’t anywhere to be seen, but Yosuke figured they were being caught up at their date and were running late.

Nanako cheerfully answered the door, with a gleeful look, then one of almost disappointment, hiding a frown. Shit. He realized she probably thought he was her dad. “Big broooooooo! You’ve got compannnyyyyyyyy!” She shouted out behind her, and he could hear footsteps coming their way.

Yosuke leaned down a bit to look at her. “Heya Nanako!” He tried to be cheerful to lift her spirits up. “It’s been too long since we took you to Junes! We should go soon!” He put a light hand on her shoulder as her face lit up in pure euphoria. 

“Really?! Can we Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeee go in the back room! I wanna see, I wanna see!” She grabbed his hand and yanked him down with her surprising twilighted toddler strength, and he laughed a little nervously.

“Oh, Nanako, we’ll have to see, okay?” He offered a smile that to anyone over the age of 10 could have probably told he was extremely unsure about. Luckily, Nanako was much below that threshold. She skipped away after cheering, and was now loudly singing the Junes Jingle. He righted himself as Souji filled her spot.

“Thanks for that. She’s been down lately.” Souji opened the door as to invite Yosuke out of the cold, and shut the door behind him as he entered. The house was plenty warm, and Yosuke took off his shoes. Before Yosuke had a chance to respond, he continued. “Have you eaten tonight?”  
This caught him off guard, causing him to delay his answer for a moment. “Uh, no.” He managed to stutter out. “I just came from work, actually.” He explained, and Souji frowned. “Let me heat you up some of our dinner.” Souji didn’t let him utter another word before turning on his heels, towards their kitchen. Yosuke dumbly followed.

He watched as Souji expertly handled the slightly chilled plastic containers filled with grilled fish and rice and stuck it in the microwave as though he had done this hundreds of times. He didn’t really know what to say, so luckily as Souji turned to look at him Yosuke’s phone dinged.

C: by the way i lied earlier we’re not coming. Its just you two tonight. me and yukiko are literally at the shrine praying for you

C: ok we’re kissing more than praying but its the thoguht that counts!

Y: i hate you to death

He didn’t think about a proper insult as he very visibly annoyedly closed his phone. “Chie and Yukiko couldn’t make it tonight so it’ll just be us.” He studied Souji’s face, which had a smile on it, surprisingly.

“That’s sucks, they’re gonna miss out on all the fun we’re gonna have.” The eye contact he made with Yosuke as he said that made him look away, and luckily the microwave finishing up prevented further conversation. “You can eat in my room.” He nodded his head in the direction of said room, and then looked back at Nanako who was watching television. “Call if you need anything Nanako, we’ll be upstairs.”

She gave back a disinterested sounding “Okaaay.” as she refused to look away from the screen. He offered him the plate of grilled fish with curry rice as they walked, which made him realize he was starving. He was tempted to dig in but decided to have decency and wait until he was sat down, at the very least. 

At this point, Souji’s room was very lived in. Photos were pinned to the wall of various things that happened over summer vacation, which were dotted between posters for various games and movies. The bed had a few shirts and pairs of pants on them, which he apologized for as he gathered them and put them away. Souji sat on the bed on one end, leaving room for him to sit next to him. 

It was now that Yosuke really got a good look at Souji. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt with basketball shorts. His hair was disheveled, which looked very off place on him. “Sorry again for the mess,” he explained, “I just got out of the shower.” Indeed, his hair was a bit damp looking.

He took the space next to him. “Man, this smells really good.” He took the spoon given and scooped up some curry rice and a chunk of the grilled chicken, and planted it in his mouth. “Oh my God, this is really good.” He didn’t know if it was his empty stomach talking or what, but he started shamelessly devouring it. Souji couldn’t help but laugh. He switched on the TV he had, which was at first left on the news, but he changed it to a channel that played movies. He left the volume on low, intending it really only for background noise.

Within just a few minutes, the plate was practically licked clean. “I’m glad I offered you food. You’re so savage when you eat.” He poked fun at Yosuke, but reached out a hand to touch Yosuke’s face. He froze up when his thumb made contact with him, and didn’t register when Souji brushed some rice off his face until much too late.

“Oh! Oh, thanks.” He laughed nervously. What the hell was he doing? He was acting like an idiot. Souji laughed with him and took his plate, which he sat to the side. “Sorry-that-was-really-good-I-just-haven’t-eaten-all-day-and-your-cooking-is-really-good-and-I-wish-I-could-have-it-more.” He blurted out an almost panic sounding sentence, and was out of breath by the time it was over. 

Souji looked almost a little shy, which shocked Yosuke. “You can come over whenever you want for dinner. But I can’t say it’ll always be mine.” He offered, and the gravity of such offer hit Yosuke with even more surprise. “Even lunch, too. I would love if you came over more often.” He continued to make Yosuke feel like an utter fucking buffoon. The word ‘love’ struck a very sensitive chord in his stomach. 

“I dunno, I can’t just take your food like that.” He managed to mumble out. Turns out, Souji wasn’t having it.

“We don’t have to eat if you don’t want, I just enjoy your company.” He was saying this all with a straight face. Yosuke looked like he was t-minus 10 seconds to launch.

“Right. Um. Maybe I’ll- uh, take you up on that.” He stuttered out. 

Souji frowned, suddenly concerned looking. “Are you okay?”

“What?” He took a half a second to process what he said, then continued. “Oh, uh, Yeah I’m just kind of nervous.” He suddenly admitted way too much without thinking.

Souji scooted closer, to the point to where their knees were touching thanks to the angle they were at. He planted a hand softly on his shoulder. “Nervous about what?”  
The sudden contact sent shivers down Yosuke’s spine. He felt like he was experiencing sensory overload. He took a deep breath and calmed down. Now or never, Hanamura. Just tell him what you feel. Just tell him.

“I’m just worried that, you don’t like me the way I like you.” He whispered out, and he felt sick. He could envision Souji standing up and pushing him in disgust. How could he like men? Souji’s obviously not gay. Why would he be? He started thinking of ways he could play it off as a joke.

His thoughts that were faster than light came to a sudden stop when his ice-cold fingers were enveloped with warm, soft ones. “We’re partners, aren’t we?” He said it softly, almost to the point where he could barely hear it.

Yosuke turned to face him, relaxing.The tension he felt started to ebb away. “Yeah… we are.” Their faces were so close. So close. Yosuke could feel the breath on his face.

Souji took the initiative. He gripped Yosuke’s hand a touch tighter as he cupped his face, closing his eyes and kissing him. It wasn’t anything like he was imagining his first kiss to be like. It wasn’t as wild and passionate as his imagination often led him to believe, it was more chaste and calm, and all too short for his liking. 

“I um… I’ve never kissed a guy before. Or anyone.” Yosuke admitted quietly. His face was more red than a tomato and hotter than the surface of the Sun. 

Souji looked at him with an emotion he couldn’t discern. “Does that mean you don’t want me to do it again?” The grip on Yosuke’s hand loosened a bit.

“No! I mean, yes! No, I mean- ugh!” He panicked out, his words not really coming to him in the time he needed them most. He groaned and screwed his eyes shut as he kissed him forcefully, catching Souji obviously off guard as he gasped into the kiss. He then reciprocated it, and while the kiss wasn’t anything more than lip, it seemed like it lasted for minutes. Yosuke didn’t mind. Souji didn’t seem to, either. After they parted Yosuke realized that he was basically sitting on his lap, and Souji didn’t make a move to change that.

“Do you still feel nervous?” Souji leaned back a bit to let him have space to breathe.

Yosuke thought about it. “No… not anymore. It just feels really freeing. Like when I got my persona, if that makes sense.”  
Souji smiled big, which was almost weird to see on his face. “That… makes me feel really happy.” He then separated his hand, and wrapped both of his arms around him in a tight embrace. “I didn’t think you liked guys. I was really afraid to show how I felt.” It was Souji’s turn to admit something.

“I… didn’t know I liked guys either. Not until you.” He also moved to hug him back. “This whole time, I was so clueless. I realized you make me happy, like really happy. Like happier than a friend should.” He was spilling his guts. “And I didn’t know how to deal with it.” He buried his face into Souji’s sweet smelling neck, which was strange but cathartic.

“What made you realize?” Souji prodded curiously, wondering if any of the hints he was giving got to him, finally.

“Chie knocked some sense into me.” He admitted, causing Souji to groan and laugh at the same time. “It cost me some steak money, too.” He grumbled, and Souji laughed a little harder.

“Yosuke.” Souji said with a suddenly stern tone.

He swallowed. “Souji?” He pulled back from his neck to face him.

“I love you, you know that?” 

He was stunned by it for a moment, but then smiled. “I love you too.” He couldn’t describe what he felt hearing or saying that. But he could tell it was good.

“Do you wanna stay over tonight?” Souji offered, and immediately Yosuke nodded.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” Yosuke moved to take Souji’s hand and squeeze it.

 

Eventually, they untangled, but didn’t separate. Eventually, after hours of talking and laying, Souji fell asleep during a lull in the conversation. Yosuke spent so much time studying the peace on his face. He looked so serene. So beautiful. Gone, were his inhibitions. He kissed his sleeping face, and moved closer to him. And it wasn’t long before he followed him to sleep.

 

C: hey howd it go?

C: his skull is thicker than the fog sometimes. 

C: anyway. If it went how i think it went, then you literally owe me steak for life, capisce? 

S: yeah, i owe you big time. thanks, chie

**Author's Note:**

> u fucking wu et cetera. bappy bextremely belated birthday to banderson sorry for freddie benson voice j. jh- sjust beeiign a bitch


End file.
